GRADUATE PROGRAM IN REHABILITATION COUNSELING Practicum Manual Masters of Science (M.S.) in Rehabilitation Counseling Program (RCP) Langston University Revised: 03/2015 Dr. Corey L. Moore Department Chair Dr. Andre L. Washington Clinical Experience Coordinator
Contents 2 PRACTICUM PAGE Mission and Objectives...3 Fact Sheet.4 Professional Liability Insurance..5 Practicum Portfolio..5 Standards for Practicum RCT Program Supervisor 6 Student.6 Agency.7 APPENDICES PRACTICUM APPENDIX A-1: Liability Insurance Certificate (sample).....8 PRACTICUM APPENDIX B-1 Official Portfolio Covers (sample). 9-10 PRACTICUM APPENDIX C-1: Sections of Practicum Portfolio Sheet/Dividers..11-16 PRACTICUM APPENDIX D-1: Practicum Site Request Form (sample) 17 PRACTICUM APPENDIX E-1: Practicum Agreement Form (sample)...18 PRACTICUM APPENDIX F-1: Practicum Weekly Log (sample).....19-20 PRACTICUM APPENDIX G-1: Informed Consent Form (sample).....21 PRACTICUM APPENDIX H-1: Student Rating Sheet (sample)......22-23 PRACTICUM APPENDIX I-1: Practicum Evaluation Form (sample) 24 PRACTICUM APPENDIX J-1: Written Report Evaluation Outline (sample).....25 PRACTICUM APPENDIX K-1: Carl Albert Public Internship Program (sample)......26
Mission and Objectives 3 The mission of the Master of Science (M.S.) in Rehabilitation Counseling (RCP) is to meet a growing demand for professionally trained rehabilitation counselors in a variety of public and private-for-profit rehabilitation counseling-related areas. Rehabilitation counselors are trained to work with a diversity of persons with physical, mental, developmental, cognitive, and emotional disabilities. Rehabilitation counselors focus on the whole person, not just the disability. Rehabilitation counselors work with the physical, psychological, social, educational, vocational, and spiritual aspects of individuals and their family members, and evaluate barriers that may hinder their ability to make choices, contribute to society, pursue meaningful careers and enjoy full inclusion and integration in the economic, political, social, cultural, and educational mainstream of American society. Rehabilitation counselors manage the components important in the rehabilitation process of individuals with physical and mental disabilities. They help prevent fragmentation and gaps in services to people seeking to move from psychological and economic dependence to independence. The counselor draws upon knowledge from several fields, including psychology, medicine, psychiatry, sociology, social work, education, and law. Curricular content, therefore, includes an understanding of the philosophy, theory, psychological, sociological, and economical principles that constitute the foundations of rehabilitation counseling. The RCP shares a common core of course work that is part of other counselor education programs. The RCP differs from other counseling programs in that students may choose course work that is specific to the field of rehabilitation counseling, such as vocational evaluation, medical aspects, and psychosocial aspects of disability.
PURPOSE Practicum Fact Sheet Rehabilitation Counselor Training 4 The practicum includes both on-campus classroom experiences [audio-video tapes (if allowed by agency) and individual and group interaction] dealing with rehabilitation counseling concerns, and clinical experiences (off-campus) that facilitate the development of basic rehabilitation counseling skills. PRACTICUM SITES Any site that provides rehabilitation or rehabilitation-related services and offers the opportunity to interact with persons/clients with disabilities for the purpose of practicing and recording counseling and interviewing skills is appropriate. These sites will be developed and pre-approved by Clinical Experience Coordinator, and students can express their site preferences through completing the Practicum Request Form/Informational Fact Sheet. All potential practicum sites are to be approved by the Clinical Experience Coordinator. Practicum sites are arranged through an articulation of agreement or memorandum of understanding (MOU) made between Langston University/Rehabilitation Counseling Program and the agency site. The Rehabilitation Counseling Program Clinical Experience Coordinator will seek to negotiate a specific number of slots for students as a part of the articulation of agreement or MOU. It shall also be the coordinator s responsibility to meet with students and schedule their practicum, inform them of approved sites and other opportunities, and to ultimately facilitate students successful placement into an appropriate site. SUPERVISION In order to build and develop counseling skills, feedback is necessary. Consequently, students are asked to tape record counseling sessions so appropriate feedback can be provided (if allowed by practicum site). For supervision, students will be assigned to a faculty member who will supervise students. In addition to class group meetings with students, supervisors will meet with each student individually for one hour per week. These meetings will normally occur during summer semester. In cases where practicum is during the Spring or Fall semesters, faculty and students will identify alternate times to meet. Any exception to summer semester practicum courses requires a vote by the faculty. Faculty supervisors will assign recording and case presentation assignments to students and the recordings will be submitted for critique. The individual supervision of five students shall be considered equivalent to the teaching of one three credit hour course. CREDIT AND CONTACT HOURS A total of 100 hours is required for three credit hours. The student usually will practice counseling skills 10 hours per week for eight (8) weeks. Another two and one-half hours per week will be devoted to supervision on campus (one hour of individual supervision by a program faculty member or qualified individual working in cooperation with a program faculty member and one-half hour of group supervision). GRADES Faculty supervisors in consultation with agency personnel assign grades. Grades are A-F and shall be rendered by the faculty supervisor upon the student s completion of the practicum and after review of the evaluation(s) by the agency supervisor and the student s self-evaluations, which are within required course portfolio. Students who do not demonstrate adequate progress
5 (earn letter grade of D-F) of content knowledge, pedagogy and/or professionalism may need additional support and structure (Action Plan for Improvement) in order to be successful. The clinical experience coordinator, in collaboration with on agency supervisor, academic advisor (where applicable) and chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disabilities Studies will formulate a plan that outlines deficiencies and identifies strategies for meeting expectations within a prescribed timeline. Students must successfully complete the practicum before they may enroll in an internship. INSURANCE Professional liability coverage will be the responsibility of the student. Students must have liability insurance through Langston University in order to engage in practicum and internship. Blanket professional liability coverage is validated on an annual basis, usually beginning May 23 rd thru May 22 nd of the following year. PRACTICUM PORTFOLIO Students are required to complete a practicum portfolio. The purpose of the portfolio is to log practicum experiences throughout the duration of training.
STANDARDS FOR PRACTICUM 6 RCT PROGRAM SUPERVISOR The RCT faculty has established areas of interest and specialization that translate into individual interests in working with specific sites. For example, substance abuse instructors will want to work with area substance abuse agencies. Also, however, faculty members are assigned to supervise groups of practicum students regardless of their site. This necessitates that the liaison with the site from the faculty may be one person, while another faculty may actually supervise the student s work. This potential problem will hopefully be solved by good communication between site-faculty-student, while the benefits to this arrangement are the promotion of longlasting and valuable ties between faculty specialists and agencies, a minimizing confusion of roles, and maximizing closely supervised teaching at the University. The faculty liaisons will promote the creation of practicum opportunities at area agencies, and will facilitate an understanding of the agency s roles and responsibilities, the student s roles and responsibilities, and the teaching supervisor s roles and responsibilities. These roles and responsibilities will be spelled out by the faculty liaison in a letter of verification (that will include beginning and ending dates, hours of contact, types of duties agreed to, and individual roles and responsibilities), which will be sent by the first week of the new semester in which the student will have the experience. STUDENT The student s responsibilities will include: 1) attendance during each day of assigned contact; 2) following agency instructions and procedures; 3) recording counseling sessions as assigned by RCT faculty supervisor (if allowed by agency). The student should realize that this is a quasiwork situation and that he or she will be evaluated on not only his or her counseling skills, but also work and professional characteristics. PROCESS Faculty supervisors will notify students as to which sites are available and approved, and students will then have an opportunity to express their preferences. However, students will have an opportunity at any time to let their advisor know of other potential sites, by completing a Practicum Site Request Form (Appendix D-1). A major factor in site assignment is first come, first served. Students who want to participate in the State of Oklahoma Carl Albert Executive Fellowship Program (a two year paid practicum/internship) are encouraged to complete an application (See Appendix K-1). Applications can be downloaded online at http://www.ok.gov/opm/state_jobs/carl_albert_public_internship_program.html
7 AGENCY Since the practicum is meant for practicing counseling skills learned in counseling courses at Langston University (LU), agency sites will be selected and/or approved by LU Rehabilitation Counseling Training (RCT) faculty according to their ability to provide supervised counseling practice of actual clients. An individual working at the agency must be designated as on-site supervisor. The agency supervisor should report any problems with the student to the student s faculty supervisor immediately. Likewise, students should report any problems on-site to the onsite supervisor as well as the faculty supervisor. The contact hours necessary for the student to achieve are 100, which are generally two days per week for eight (8) weeks. However, this standard schedule may be amended according to the exigencies of agency scheduling, University programs, etc. Generally, compression of hours is an undesirable situation since practicum is a developmental process where the student matures in counseling practice with time and experience. The six hours per day practicum need not necessarily involve strictly counseling practice, although the student should have an opportunity to devote as much time as possible to counseling. The other time may be spent observing agency counselors in their work with clients, or becoming familiar with the work of that agency in all its aspects. Upon completion of the practicum, the agency supervisor will be asked to complete an evaluation form reflecting the practicum student s performance. This evaluation will aid the RCT faculty supervisor in formulating a grade for the student, as well as determining the continuing needs of the student in the counseling profession (e.g., need for more counseling experience, need for personal counseling by the student, lack of appropriateness of the student for counseling, etc.). Please see Appendix I-1 for sample evaluation form that will be used by the agency site supervisor for student evaluation.
APPENDIX C-1 8 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies Sections of Practicum Portfolio: Front Cover Label should have: Special Note: Label should be typed out! Content Includes: aname acwid # acourse number and title asemester Enrolled apracticum Site Location Section I (Practicum Agreement) Content Includes: apracticum agreement ainsurance Certificate [Include proof of payment, i.e. staple receipt to certificate (mandatory)] apracticum Site Request Form acarl Albert Executive Fellowship Contract (If applicable) Section II (Weekly Practicum Logs) Content Includes: aweekly Logs ainformed Consent form(s) Special Note: Use informed consent forms ONLY if you video or audio record sessions with clients Section III (Practicum Projects) Content Includes: aprojects (3) Presentations (see faculty supervisor for details) Section IV (Practicum Evaluations) Content Includes: astudent Vita (most current) Special Note: Synonymous with Resume Evaluation(s) apracticum Student Written Report (Student) apracticum Evaluation Form (Site Supervisor) astudent Rating Sheet (Faculty Supervisor) Section V: (Supplemental Documents) Content Includes: acrcc Code of Ethics (Can be retrieved for CRCC website) aany additional documents that you may have that support your practicum experience.
LANGSTON UNIVERSITY 9 GRADUATE PROGRAM IN REHABILITATION COUNSELING SECTION I PRACTICUM AGREEMENT Type student intern name here Type practicum site location here
LANGSTON UNIVERSITY 10 GRADUATE PROGRAM IN REHABILITATION COUNSELING SECTION II WEEKLY PRACTICUM LOGS Type student intern name here Type practicum site location here
11 LANGSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN REHABILITATION COUNSELING SECTION III PRACTICUM PROJECTS Type student intern name here Type practicum site location here
LANGSTON UNIVERSITY 12 GRADUATE PROGRAM IN REHABILITATION COUNSELING SECTION IV EVALUATIONS Type student intern name here Type practicum site location here
LANGSTON UNIVERSITY 13 GRADUATE PROGRAM IN REHABILITATION COUNSELING SECTION V SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS Type student intern name here Type practicum site location here
APPENDIX D-1 14 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies PRACTICUM SITE REQUEST FORM Name: Date: 1. Name of the Company/Organization: 2. Name of on-site supervisor: 3. Address/Location of the practicum site: 4. Contact numbers to practicum site supervisor: 5. Client demographics that practicum site has: 6. Professional practices of the site: 7. What is the mission statement of the site? 8. What would your role be as a practicum student within the organization? (what would you be doing?) 9. Start date End date (approximately). 10. On average, how many practicum hours per week will be accumulated?. Student Signature Site Supervisor Signature Special Note: All practicum experience activities are to be approved by the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies before student can officially begin accumulating hours. Approved Denied Justification for denial: APPENDIX A-1 Langston University
15 APPENDIX E-1 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies PRACTICUM AGREEMENT (Student name) is accepted for practicum in Rehabilitation Counseling at (Practicum Site Location) during Indicate Summer/Spring or Fall_ Semester, 20. The practicum entails eight hours per week for a period of 16 weeks (negotiable). During this time, (Student name) will be expected to spend at least 50% of his/her time in direct counseling of clients. Counseling sessions must be audiotaped or videotaped (if allowed by agency) and permission for taping must be obtained from the client. The student will take appropriate safeguards to maintain the confidentiality of the tapes, and all tapes will be erased following supervision. (Student name) is also expected to meet with his/her faculty supervisor at least one hour per week for each week of practicum to review the taped counseling sessions (if applicable). During practicum, students are expected to abide by the policies and procedures of the agency or facility serving as their practicum site. Maintenance of confidentiality of clients, their families, and significant others is to be followed at all times. Decisions regarding any release of information are to be followed at all times. Decisions regarding any release of information are to be made by the On- Site Supervisor. Questions or problems involving the practicum should be immediately directed to the student s faculty supervisor at (405) 962-1671. Faculty Supervisor Site Supervisor Rehabilitation Counseling Student
APPENDIX F-1 16 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies PRACTICUM WEEKLY LOG (Completed by Student) The student must report briefly each day, giving a breakdown of the contents and the amount of time spent in activities such as observation, client interview; case recordings; reports; letters; conferences with supervisor, staff, or consultants; special meetings; reading related to assignments; case studies and transportation. Student Name: Agency or Unit Practicum Site Supervisor Agency Address: (City) (State) (Zip Code) (Phone Number) Report for Week of: Date Hours Activities: Date Hours Activities Student met with faculty, (place your faculty instructor name here) for (place how many hours you met here) to discuss practicum experiences from prior week.
Date Hours Activities: 17 Date Hours Activities: Date Hours Activities: Total hours/week Cumulative hours Student Signature Site Supervisor Signature
APPENDIX G-1 18 INFORMED CONSENT: Observation and Audio/Video Tape Recording In order to provide quality counseling services, counselors in training for their master s degree in the Rehabilitation Counselor Training Program at Langston University are required to receive clinical supervision. To aid in this, counseling sessions are monitored by the use of audio/video tape recordings and/or actual observations of clinical sessions. Information from the client s clinical case file also may be reviewed. Such information will be treated in accordance with professional ethical standards (i.e. Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors) and confidentiality will be maintained. This authorization for the use of this information expires when the client is no longer receiving services by a counselor trainee of the Rehabilitation Counselor Training Program. Information will not be released to any other agency without the client s further written consent. I understand that I am not required to participate in this counseling program, but am giving my consent to the matters noted above as a free and voluntary act. Date Date Date Signature of the Client Signature of the Counselor Signature of a Witness RIGHTS REGARDING CONFIDENTIALITY The counseling services offered to counselors in training for their master s degree in the Rehabilitation Counselor Training Program at Langston University are confidential. This means that we do not release any information about you to any persons who are not directly involved in clinical supervision without your written consent. Danger to self and/or others (i.e. suicide or homicide) may necessitate the breaking of confidentiality without your consent. In addition, by law, we must report suspected child abuse and/or neglect communicated to us by you. I have read and understand my rights regarding confidentiality. Date Date Date Signature of the Client Signature of the Counselor Signature of a Witness
APPENDIX H-1 19 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies (Completed by Faculty Supervisor) STUDENT RATING SHEET Name of Student Site Supervisor s Name 1. Understanding of Agency organization and functions as well as adherence to agency policy and procedures. 2. Understanding of relationship of Agency to other welfare programs. 3. Cooperative relationship with staff, other agencies, and individuals. 4. Professional standards. 5. Ethical conduct. 6. General industry and attention to duties. Not Applied or Not Observed Below Average Adequate Above Average 7. Insight into problems of the clients. a. Psycho-social b. Personal-emotional c. Vocational d. Other 8. Integration of data. 9. Maintaining relationships. 10. Developing plans and/or programs. 11. Maintenance of records. 12. Use of occupational and educational information. 13. Coordinating programs and services. 14. Evidence of professional growth during training period. Additional comments concerning practicum student: Additional comments concerning apparent weakness in practicum student academic preparation
STUDENT RATING SHEET (Continues) 20 EVALUATION OF SUPERVISION EXPERIENCE Not Applicable Below Expectations Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations 0.1.2 3 ITEM RATING COMMENTS 1. Receptivity to supervision. 2. Uses supervision effectively. 3. Capacity for self-awareness and selfreflectiveness. 4. Openness to discussing issues as they relate to clients. 5. Openness to discussing issues as they relate to supervision relationship. COMMENTS: Signature of Student Date Signature of Faculty Supervisor Date
APPENDIX I-1 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies 21 PRACTICUM EVALUATION FORM (Completed by Site Supervisor) Date Student Supervisor Semester and Course Number Agency Week Evaluation Conducted Hours Completed Attendance Work Habits Dependability Relationships with People Initiative Reliability Efficiency Helpfulness ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor ( ) Good ( ) Fair ( ) Poor Specific goals and tasks accomplished in the practicum included: Site Supervisor Signature Student Signature
APPENDIX J-1 22 Langston University School of Education and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Program Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies (Completed by Practicum Student) Description and Student Evaluation WRITTEN REPORT OUTLINE As part of your practicum assignment, you are required to provide a written report. This report is due at the end of the internship period and should consider the points outlined. 1. Identify the place and period of your practicum. a. Write a narrative description of your overall practicum activities. b. Estimate the percent of time spent in various activities. 2. Summarize your personal and emotional reactions and insights in regards to your practicum activities. 3. Evaluation of practicum experience. a. What were the satisfactory aspects of your experience? b. What were the limitations of your experience? c. What additional things could the agency have provided to make this experience more meaningful? d. What additional things could your faculty and agency supervisor have done to make this activity more meaningful? e. Are there additional emphases in courses that could have been made? f. On the scale of excellent, good, satisfactory, and poor, please rate the quality of your practicum experience.